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(CPJ/IFEX) - The following is a 28 November 2007 CPJ press release:

RUSSIA: Critical journalist jailed in St. Petersburg

New York, November 28, 2007 - The Committee to Protect Journalists expressed alarm today at the imprisonment of Nikolai Andrushchenko, co-founder and an editor of the weekly newspaper Novy Peterburg in the Russian city of St. Petersburg. On Saturday, a court sentenced Andrushchenko to two months of pre-trial detention on charges of defamation and obstruction of justice. If convicted, the journalist could face up to six years in prison.

The charges, according to officials, stem from his coverage in 2006 of a murder investigation and trial in St. Petersburg. However, the reporter's colleagues say they believe his persecution and imprisonment is the result of Novy Peterburg's critical coverage of local authorities and its pro-opposition articles in the run-up to the country's parliamentary elections on December 2.

"We are disturbed by the imprisonment of Nikolai Andrushchenko on more than one-year-old charges just days before an election," said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon. "With a pattern of harassment of the journalist and his paper, it is apparent that the authorities' actions are aimed at stifling an opposition voice before the parliamentary vote. We call on Russian authorities to release Andrushchenko without delay."

On Friday, St. Petersburg police officers raided the newsroom and copied files from computers, saying that Andrushchenko was suspected of defaming officials in two articles unrelated to the other charges currently pending against him. The same day, officers of the St. Petersburg's Directorate for Combating Organized Crime raided Andrushchenko's house and arrested him, according to local press reports.

Local authorities have repeatedly harassed Andrushchenko, 64, and Novy Peterburg, the paper's co-founder, Alevtina Ageyeva, told CPJ. Andrushchenko was beaten by unidentified attackers on his way home on November 9. On November 15, the paper's print run containing articles about an upcoming dissenters' march and critical stories about St. Petersburg's head of police was bought out anonymously, and the company in charge of distributing Novy Peterburg refused to allow any remaining copies to appear on newsstands. A week later, the biggest local publishing house, Gazetny Kompleks, said it was overloaded and refused to print the paper's issue; and another publishing house refused to print the edition carrying an article by opposition leader Garry Kasparov on its front page.

CPJ is a New York-based, independent, nonprofit organization that works to safeguard press freedom worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.cpj.org

Since 2012, the Russian authorities have intensified a crackdown on freedom of expression, selectively casting certain kinds of criticism of the government as threats to state security and public stability and introducing significant restrictions to online expression and invasive surveillance of online activity.

Throughout the year there were reports of attacks, threats, censorship, arrests, and prison sentences against both journalists and ordinary citizens who had posted or shared politically sensitive information online.

The Russian authorities detained at least 61 people in different cities across the country for holding unauthorized protests ahead of the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Sochi on 7 February 2014.

A new bill provides for the immediate blocking of websites with content regarded by the prosecutor’s office as extremist. Inciting hatred or terrorist acts are already grounds for blocking. Now, urging people to participate in unauthorized protests would also be viewed as "extremist."

Charges against dozens of protesters in connection with the protest on the eve of President Vladimir Putin’s 2012 inauguration are "inappropriate" and "disproportionate," according to a panel of independent experts. Twenty seven people are facing "mass rioting" charges in connection with the protest on May 6, 2012.

Russia is the sixth deadliest country in the world for journalists in the last 16 years. Moreover, as impunity for attacks on journalists in Russia remains the general rule and the vast majority of cases remain unsolved, the true tally could be even higher.

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